By Hamza Takeen
BEIRUT
Iran has offered military aid to the Lebanese army to help the latter combat "extremism and terror" on the border with Syria, a high-profile Iranian official, currently visiting Lebanon, said Tuesday.
"Given Lebanon's role in confronting extremist terrorism in border areas [with Syria], Iran has decided to offer military equipment to the Lebanese army as a token of friendship and appreciation," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told reporters after a meeting with Lebanese Premier Tammam Salam in Beirut.
The Iranian equipment, he said, would allow the Lebanese army to "fight terror" efficiently on the border with Syria.
The aid will be formally offered at an upcoming visit to Iran by Lebanese Defense Minister Samir Mouqbel, Shamkhani said, adding that Beirut had "welcomed" the Iranian grant.
Lebanon has been drawn further into the Syrian quagmire since militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – two of the main militant groups fighting the Syrian regime – clashed with the Lebanese army last month in the border town of Arsal, killing 17 troops.
The two groups also managed to kidnap several Lebanese soldiers, later making their release conditional on the release of Islamist prisoners from Lebanese jails and the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from Syria.
Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group has been fighting alongside the Syrian regime since 2011.
Tehran is also a main ally of Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime.
In January, Saudi Arabia, a longstanding foe of Iran, offered $3 billion to arm the Lebanese military with French weapons with a view to "strengthening the army's capacities."
Last month, a former Lebanese prime minister announced that Riyadh had pledged an additional $1 billion to support the Lebanese army's "war on terror."
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